


The Beat of Two

by Moonrose91



Series: Time and Space in Marvel [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Marvel (Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Anyone who has seen those episodes knows who he is, F/M, Gen, It gets explained in the fic I swear, M/M, So so so so so many spoilers, Sort-of, Spoilers, They survived and are still happy, They would really prefer people to stop being narrow minded bad words and let them be in peace, We were never given Canton's boyfriend's name and that is not my fault, Well happyish, why do I do this to myself?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-03
Updated: 2012-12-03
Packaged: 2017-11-20 04:51:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/581479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonrose91/pseuds/Moonrose91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Canton Everett Delaware the Third was...content with his life.</p><p>And the Doctor returned and took him and the man he swore his life to on a trip of the universe.</p><p>And then he said 'thank you.'</p><p>In 1989, they learned why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beat of Two

It was Feburary 17, 1972 when the Doctor landed back in Canton’s life.

He was smiling brightly, his eyes _ancient_ , and he asked about Canton’s boyfriend. “How is Sam?” were his exact words and Canton asked if they were meeting out of order.

“A bit. But I made a promise and I keep my promises Canton. Can you bring Sam along?” the Doctor asked and Canton invited the Doctor into the house, the house in the middle of nowhere in the most open-minded town Canton could find (but where people still whispered and Canton had to be stopped from doing something rash), where they were always (and always, and _always_ on the outside looking in, and where the only thing holding him together at the end of the day was Sam’s arms wrapped tightly around him, and a promise made, softly, by the very man who had blown back into his life, “I promise, Canton Everett Delaware the Third, I will show you and your gentleman a universe where you are accepted. The Fifty-first century is good for that sort of thing. But, if you ever meet a man named ‘Captain Jack Harkness’, be prepared to fend him off with a stick.”), and Sam smiled and the Doctor never hesitated in shaking his hand.

Sam was swept up in the mystique of the Doctor and Canton chatted about the people they knew, but the pain, the sadness, in those eyes told Canton more then he ever wished to know about what had happened to them.

They were gone, beyond the Doctor’s reach, and Canton wondered how such a thing could have happened to a man who could travel through time.

But Sam was intrigued and he spun around upon seeing the inside of the TARDIS and the Doctor took them on amazing, beautiful, adventures. Of places that were strange and wonderful and where no one looked twice, or whispered hurtful things (for the most part) when Canton swooped in to give Sam a kiss or when they held hands, the Doctor seeming at ease with being a third wheel.

They returned to their home, eyes wide still with wonder and three days after they had left.

Their neighbors were actually nervous about their sudden disappearance and the Doctor lied easily to them; a nephew of Canton’s who needed his uncles back home, that he had never approved of his mother’s choice to cut Canton off, and pretended to be thoroughly confused over what was with it.

He hugged them both tightly and, after he left, Sam turned to Canton and said, “Why did he say ‘thank you’?”

“I don’t know,” he answered calmly.

It was January first, 1989, when the Doctor returned, this one far more frazzled then Canton had ever seen him. The man was near tears as he stumbled up to them, singed and bruised, clinging tightly to Canton and Sam’s hands when they caught him, the Doctor’s eyes never leaving theirs, maybe surprised by how much they had aged in nearly 20 years, though they were graceful agers.

And the first words that tumbled out of his mouth, shaking and watery, “Canton, can you help me, please?”

It took everything the ex-FBI agent had to not just break down and agree right then and there at the Doctor’s begging eyes and lost face.

A man lost, a man broken down by time and whatever agony he had suffered before he had run into them those years ago.

They brought him inside, and got him calmed down. The Doctor was not nearly as bright and maniac as he had been earlier, showing them the best the universe had to offer, with the Doctor smiling the entire time, and leaving with a whispered ‘thank you’ into their ears.

“Oh, Sam, you’re Canton’s gentlemen! Scared him a bit, I did, when I brought you up. Honestly hadn’t meant to Canton, I forget how you humans got back then. Brave pair of souls, aren’t you?” the Doctor had launched in, and Sam just smiled warmly and gently directed the Doctor back onto the needed train of thought.

“You said you needed our help?” Sam pressed softly.

“Right, yes. Canton, Sam, how do you feel about children?” he asked.

Canton stared in shock while Sam brightened. “Oh…I wish we could adopt! But…two men, two men of different races, and we can’t. We’re thinking of getting a dog,” Sam responded, his voice trailing off, even as Canton muttered, “We aren’t getting a dog.”

The Doctor smiled, so full of hope and pain that Canton wondered what was tearing the Doctor up so badly his hands were still shaking. “What if I said there was a baby girl who _desperately_ needed a family I could trust to raise her?” he asked and Sam leaned forward briefly before he leaned back with a scowl.

“They would never let us keep her,” Sam muttered.

“No, they will. I will guarantee that you will get to keep her, I promise it,” the Doctor stated, already watering out, eyes shining and he almost seemed to crumple over. Canton leaned forward, resting a hand on the Doctor’s shoulder, calm even as the Doctor seemed to be shaking apart.

“No offense, Doctor, but why not Amy and Rory?” Canton asked and the Doctor shook his head.

“I…I can’t. They can’t. They’re…they’re out of my reach,” he explained, soft sobs cracking his voice and Sam immediately moved forward, hugging the Doctor tightly, much better at the emotional things then Canton was, unless it had to do with protectiveness.

Sam’s arms are tight around the Doctor and this man, this Time Lord, clings to Sam as if he is the only thing keeping the Doctor afloat.

Canton knows the feeling and, for once, isn’t jealous of someone else clinging to Sam as if his entire existence hinges on keeping contact with Sam. Canton hesitates before he begins to rub the Doctor’s back and he wonders how far the Doctor was pushed to fracture this way.

Because it seems the Doctor just needs them here, and they’re strong enough to support him for awhile.

Once the Doctor has officially calmed, he stares up at them and says, “River and I got married.”

“That’s wonderful…right?” Sam answered, but Canton had a feeling he knew where this was going.

“Sort-of. Yes. But…we have a daughter. We…we can’t keep her and, as it is, I’ve kept River for far too long. She needs to break back in,” the Doctor explained and Canton looks at Sam.

Sam who stares at him so pleadingly, begging for Canton to say ‘yes, we’ll raise your daughter and keep her safe.’

And Canton, in that moment, realizes why the Doctor breathed, so thankfully, in such a relived way in their ears, ‘thank you.’

“What is her name?” Canton asked, voice strong and stable.

Sam beamed and the Doctor looked up at him like he was an answer to a prayer and a damnation.

“Darcy. We named her Darcy. She’s why I’m like this, someone took her. Not the best idea in the world that they ever had. The last they had too,” the Doctor answered and Sam smiled a bit, undisturbed by hearing a man he knew as exceptionally cheerful carry on with talk of murder, or worse.

“I bet,” Canton responded, remembering River Song vividly and seeing the sharp look in the Doctor’s eyes.

A man who had lost so, so, much before would not hesitate to risk it all to save his child.

He had a feeling that the Doctor would have viewed the girl as a second chance at salvation, for the darkness that Canton could see in the Doctor’s eyes.

A darkness that came with a heavy weight that only he would understand.

“When can we meet her?” Sam asked.

“Next month. Two minutes for me. Maybe an hour. She won’t be human. She’s…like me. She’ll live for centuries, unchanging, regenerating if anyone harms her. I can get her existing within seconds. What should she be, niece, cousin, what?” the Doctor answered, obviously pulling himself together and fixing himself up.

Canton watched him fix himself, with the knowledge that Darcy would be safe. “Well, you better remember to come and teach her what she needs to know,” Canton stated and the Doctor nodded while Sam squeezed his hands.

“Daughter of a nephew of Canton’s. That should work, right?” he asked and the Doctor nodded weakly.

Sam smiled and released the Doctor’s hands. “Take as long as you need. We’ll be here,” Sam stated and the Doctor stood up calmly.

“Thank you,” the Doctor stated and Sam stood up.

“Thank _you._ We’ve always wanted children. We just gave up on that dream on the day we realized we loved each other,” Sam responded and the Doctor nodded before he reached up and gently touched the jagged scar that ran down Sam’s cheek.

“You two are very brave men. Far braver then I,” the Doctor stated and turned, leaving for his TARDIS.

It was the first of March when he returned.

With River, who was holding desperately to a sleeping baby, and staring up at the Doctor with eyes that pleaded. “Please, please Doctor, please,” she whispered, staring up at the man who looked similarly to how they last saw him, the bruises more faded, the clothes cleaned up.

He just held her and she stared at Darcy in her arms, carefully running a hand down the girl’s cheek before she pressed a kiss to the girl’s forehead. “You’re right, sweetie. I know you are,” she stated and became the woman of steel Canton knew her as.

And she strode across the lawn and carefully settled Darcy into Sam’s arms, the man overwhelmed. She hesitated and pressed another kiss to Darcy’s forehead before she looked up at Sam. “Thank you,” she stated and turned to Canton.

“Hello again Canton,” she greeted.

“Hello River,” Canton retorted and she hugged him.

“Thank you,” she whispered and he nodded a bit.

“Thank you,” Canton corrected softly and she smiled, in near tears before she walked away.

The Doctor watched her walk away and smiled down at Darcy. “I have a bunch of paperwork on how to take care of her. She won’t sleep often, once she starts to get older. Specifically, when she hits her teens, she’ll start needing less and less sleep to the point where she’ll just pass out for a couple of hours. On the bright side, she will be perfectly prepared for college,” the Doctor explained.

Canton nodded and went with the Doctor to help collect the things that Darcy needed. River wasn’t present and Canton had a feeling that the TARDIS was struggling with herself to keep from just locking him inside, to keep Darcy there.

He wondered what the TARDIS knew that they did not.

“Take care of her,” the Doctor stated.

“Always,” Canton answered and the Doctor nodded.

And with that, the TARIDS wheezed away, leaving behind Canton, Sam, and a sleeping Darcy. “What is her full name?” Sam asked softly and Canton smiled.

“Darcy Emma Lewis,” Canton answered and Sam looked up with surprise.

“Lewis?” he breathed.

“Yes, Samuel Fredrick Lewis, I am gave our daughter your last name. So she’ll never doubt that she is ours, just as much as she is theirs,” Canton answered.

“Did…were you just _romantic_?” Sam asked, grinning like a love-struck fool and Canton scowled.

“Oh, shut up,” Canton growled out and headed inside, followed closely by Sam, who was still grinning at Canton’s back.

And Canton knew it without ever having to turn around.

**Author's Note:**

> This is why I can't watch Doctor Who and Thor in the same day.
> 
> I start going, 'what if Darcy was the Doctor and River Song's daughter?'
> 
> 'What if Canton and his husband raised her because the Doctor was trying to protect her as best as he could and he could trust them and we all know why Rory and Amy couldn't?'
> 
> *headdesks*


End file.
